No 2019 Budget for Motril

Thursday, January 3, 2019

By Martin Myall

The Mayor of Motril has begun the year with no approved budget for 2019. In fact the last one approved was for 2015.

Mayor Flor Almón reached the mayoralty with the backing of Izquierda Unida (a fellow left-wing party) yet that support has not translated into their backing the Mayor’s budget proposals during the four years that she has been in office.

With the Municipal Elections coming up in May, she will continue to use the 2015 budget, which had been passed by the previous PP Mayor.

The fact is that each year the 2015 has been extended using on average 67 modifications, meaning that the 2019 version has little in common with the original 2015 one.

The Councillor for the Economy and Hacienda, Sr. Sánchez Cantalejo, says that lacking a new budget has not really been a problem. However, not being able to raise the spending ceiling has meant that any surplus has to be used in reducing the municipal debt instead of using it for new projects. We’re talking about 750,000 euros annually.

The ex-Mayor and main opposition leader, Luisa María García Chamorro, considers it scandalous that a whole legislative period has gone by with no budget, yet she does not consider herself as part responsible for this; i.e., her refusing to back a new one.